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Programs

Bone Health and Fragility

Summary

This novel program evaluates patients who have sustained fragility fractures and provides education and innovative treatment options to reduce risk of additional fracture. All fracture patients over 50 years of age may be referred to this program.

Services

  • Fracture risk assessments
  • Bone density scans, called dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)
  • Patient-specific treatment plans to promote bone health and reduce fracture risks
  • Blood work testing

Own the Bone Program

Clinical care providers at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Bone Health Clinic work to identify, evaluate and treat patients with osteoporosis or low bone density related fractures. They provide education and innovative treatment options to reduce the risk of additional fractures.

Bone Health Clinic services include:

  • Fracture risk assessments
  • Bone density scans, called dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)
  • Patient-specific treatment plans to promote bone health and reduce fracture risks
  • Blood work testing

The goal of the Bone Health Clinic is to identify, evaluate, and treat high risk individuals from our current orthopedic patients as well as from other UCMC medical services in an effort to prevent these patients from sustaining a second fracture.

  • Two million people over the age of 50 suffer osteoporosis related fractures each year- three times the combined cases of heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer
  • Less than 20% of these people who fracture receive proper evaluation and treatment for their low bone density
  • Fragility fractures due to osteoporosis costs about 19 billion a year in direct care alone
  • About 50% of women over 50 will experience a fragility fracture
  • Once a woman has a first break/fracture, they are 200% more likely to suffer a second one